Mary’s books have been selected for Delacorte/Random House’s Marguerite de Angeli Prize, Parenting Reading Magic Award, Bank Street Best Books, Sugarman Award, Notable Social Sciences Trade Book, and a number of state children’s choice lists. Her MA in English from Georgetown University focused on the teaching of writing, and she developed her thesis into a grants-funded creative writing program, which she ran for twelve years.

She has served as a creative thesis advisor for the Johns Hopkins University writing program and taught creative writing at several venues. Mary also publishes frequently in children’s magazines, reviews children’s books regularly for the Washington Post and Washington Parent, and writes nonfiction online for Gale/Cengage, an educational publisher. She lives in Washington, DC.